


something to behold

by ohallows



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Femslash February, First Dates, Fluff, Making Out, Picnics, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:53:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22725712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohallows/pseuds/ohallows
Summary: Bette and Cleo’s first date.
Relationships: Betty | Bette/Cleo (Rusty Quill Gaming)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	something to behold

**Author's Note:**

> happy valentine’s day y’all!! 
> 
> bette is me: helpless gay

Bette glances at herself in the mirror, hands anxiously fluttering down the sides of her dress. It’s one of her favorites, a nice flowing black number with red flowers stitched in all across the skirt. Her hair is still a bit damp, but that doesn’t matter - her current idea is to wrap it all up in a bun, leave a few strands down to frame her face in soft waves. She’s gotten compliments on the look before, so why not? She needs to look incredible. 

Tonight, she’s going out with one of the girls from her class at uni - Cleo, who she’s been eyeing ever since they happened to sit next to each other on the first day and Cleo laughed at one of Bette’s terrible jokes. It’d been instant heart eyes then and there, and now, only a few weeks into the semester, Cleo’d up and asked her out, and Bette has slowly stammered her way to a yes. 

She tosses the rest of her hair up into a bun and finishes up the last touches of her makeup, triple and double checking that everything’s fine. Cleo should be showing up any moment to pick her up - Bette has no idea where they’re going, just that Cleo’s planned everything out, and she’s excited. 

The doorbell rings and Bette absolutely  _ doesn’t  _ squeak, nervously patting her hair as she makes sure that the bun is all set and not going to fall.

“Coming!” she calls, thankful more than ever that her roommate’s out of town for the weekend on some family trip. She grabs her purse from her bed as she finishes up the last streak of her lipstick, smacking her lips together in the mirror as she half-runs out of the room and bounces on the ball of her feet. With a flourish, she opens the door, wide grin immediately falling as her jaw drops open before she can control it

Cleo is  _ gorgeous  _ in her suit, an absolute stunner, and Bette has to work to not immediately just start gaping at her as she opens the door. It’s got lovely golden trim down the sides, complimenting her dark skin beautifully, and the fabric itself looks soft and elegant. 

“You look incredible,” Bette nearly stammers, remembering to close her jaw before an awkward amount of time has passed. 

“Thank you. You look stunning as well,” Cleo says, smiling, and then offers her arm to Bette. She doesn't say anything about how crimson Bette must be turning, but Bette’s sure it’s plain on her face. “You ready?”

Bette nods and takes Cleo’s arm, locking up the door behind her before they start heading down the hall.

“I was going to ask you to close your eyes, but that seems dangerous,” Cleo says, and her voice is  _ much _ closer to Bette’s ear than Bette was expecting, and she can feel her heart flip. 

It takes a herculean amount of effort to not say that she never wants to close her eyes when she could be staring at Cleo, but she still does have  _ some  _ self-restraint, and just laughs instead. “Good, because I’m clumsy enough as is, we don’t need to be tempting fate.”

Cleo laughs at that as well. She has a lovely laugh, and it echoes around the hall. “No, I’d much like to have you in one piece.”

They leave the dorm and Cleo leads her on down a path. It’s not familiar to Bette, but that’s alright. She trusts Cleo, after all. Eventually, they come out the other end near a busy street, and follow that for a while until Cleo asks Bette to wait here while she ducks into a small campus building, coming out with a basket and a blanket. 

It doesn’t take long for Bette to realize that the surprise Cleo has planned is a picnic in a nearby park. It’s well-lit, so it doesn’t even matter that it’s nighttime, and relatively private so they don’t need to worry about annoying interruptions. 

It’s a sweet idea, and Bette can feel her heart flapping all over the place when Cleo pulls everything out of the basket, spreading the blanket on the grass and gesturing for her to sit down. Bette does so, and Cleo begins pulling out a variety of different food, and then a wine bottle, and dessert, and even those electric candles so it’s almost like a candlelit dinner. 

Conversation ranges across nearly every topic. The classes they share, what the other is studying, their teachers, how the local football team is doing, tv shows they’re watching, music, family, friends, hell, even  _ the weather _ , and it’s all wonderful. Bette hasn’t laughed that hard in a while, and the way Cleo keeps staring at her, smiling softly, makes her blush. 

All in all, they have a lovely time, and Bette can  _ feel _ herself falling for Cleo more and more by the second. After all the food has been eaten, wines been drunk, and it’s all packed away, Cleo insists on escorting Bette back to her dorm, and even wraps her jacket around Bette’s shoulders. 

They get back to her’s what feels like too soon, and Bette and Cleo stand in front of the door, neither of them seemingly wanting the evening to end.

“I had a lovely time,” Bette says eventually, pulling the jacket off her shoulders and handing it back to Cleo. 

“I did too,” Cleo says. “I - I’d like to do it again?” she says, and it’s more a question than not as she looks shyly at Bette. 

Bette can’t nod quickly enough. “Yes, er - I’d like that too. A lot.”

“You’re blushing,” Cleo teases, and Bette scoffs, already feeling the heat in her cheeks begin to increase. She’s always been pale, nearly ghostlike (as her dearly departed mother would say), and it’s impossible to hide what she’s feeling when it always shows so plainly on her face.

“I - I don’t know what you could possibly mean,” Bette says, lie evident in her words, but Cleo just laughs, tilting her head as she stares at her, considering. “What?” 

“I was… thinking I could kiss you?” Cleo says, and for the first time tonight she sounds nervous, just as nervous as Bette feels. Bette nods, wordless, and she can see Cleo swallow before she leans in. 

Their lips touch once, just for a moment, and then Cleo pulls back. “I, er - I really -“ 

She doesn’t get more out before Bette is nearly subconsciously grabbing the lapel of Cleo’s suit in her hands and pulling her back in, heart beating fast. It’s not the best kiss, mouths smashing against each other while Cleo is mid-word, but then Cleo’s hand comes up and cradles her face, tilting her jaw, and then it feels like fireworks are going off inside Bette’s chest. 

Their kisses get more heated as they go, Bette’s hands sliding around Cleo’s waist to rest in the small of her back. Cleo pushes her against the door and Bette holds on a bit tighter. Cleo’s one hand rests against her hip, squeezing a bit, and Bette can feel her hand like a fire through her dress. 

“D’you… want to come in?” Bette asks in between kisses, taking advantage of the second of bravery she feels, bolder than she’d usually be. She can feel her face growing warm, even warmer than Cleo’s lips, and she knows she must be blushing fiercely when Cleo pulls back to look at her. 

“I would love to,” Cleo says, soft and wistful. “But I can’t.”

Oh. Bette feels the heat in her cheeks rise, this time from embarrassment than any sense of - well, whatever, it’s - it’s fine. She’s fine. This is - well, they’ve not known each other that long, anyway, and it’s the first time they’ve been out together, so it’s completely reasonable for Cleo to respond this way.  _ Completely  _ reasonable. 

Still, Bette’s left embarrassed, and when she’s embarrassed, she rambles. “Stupid idea, really, it’s only the first date, anyway, I’d love to see you again, if that’s something you -“ Cleo shuts her up with another kiss, pushing Bette back against the door. Bette’s hands immediately come up, one cupping the back of Cleo’s neck as the other grips Cleo’s upper arm, fingers digging in. Her blood is on fire, positively singing with it, and when Cleo finally pulls back, Bette doesn’t even open her eyes, breathing heavily.

“It wasn’t a stupid idea,” Cleo says, sounding as breathless as Bette feels. “I’m working the night shift tonight, I have to be there in -“ she pauses, checking her watch. “Fifteen minutes.”

“O - oh,” Bette says, finally opening her eyes. “Wait, so -“

Cleo nods. “Ask me again when we have longer than fifteen minutes.”

Bette swallows. “Right. Longer than - okay. Okay.”

Cleo winks at her and Bette feels her legs turn to jelly a bit, pulling Cleo back in. “Fifteen minutes. Got it.” 

They kiss lazily for a few more moments; Bette’s more than thrilled that Cleo has basically already agreed to a next time, but eventually, Cleo does have to leave. 

“Sorry,” she apologizes again. “Scheduled late.”

“It’s fine, next time we’ll have longer than fifteen minutes,” Bette says, and Cleo laughs. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Cleo whispers against her lips, and then she’s off, leaving Bette nearly slumped against her own door. Bette watches her go, still looking  _ amazing  _ in that suit, heart rate finally dropping down to a normal pace. 

It takes her a few tries to get the door open, fumbling with the key. Her head is still up in the clouds a bit from the kisses, but she gets it open eventually and gets inside, leaning back against the door. She pulls her phone out from her purse, and smiles. She’s already gotten a text from Cleo, your standard ‘thanks for the date!’ follow up, but Bette has a good feeling she’ll be hearing from Cleo again. There’s another message from her roommate, asking if it went well, and Bette smiles, thinking about the look in Cleo’s eyes as she’d looked up at her, and blushes. 

Yeah. She’d say the date went well. Plus… she can’t wait for the next one. 


End file.
